These Are the Incredible and Underrated Beaches of Lake Michigan’s Southern Coast

Lake Michigan is credited with having some of America's best beaches. Beach towns like New Buffalo, St Joseph, South Haven, Saugatuck, Holland and Grand Haven regularly make national publications' lists of best beaches in the country.

There are a great deal of notable beaches on Lake Michigan's southern shore that are, lowkey, fantastic.

👇🏼BELOW: Every Beach of Lake Michigan's Southern Shoreline👇🏼

Stretching from say New Buffalo in Michigan to Chicago there are roughly a dozen public beaches through Lake Michigan's southern coast. This is Indiana's Lake Michigan.

Split among three counties, LaPorte, Porter and Lake - from east to west, these are the beaches of Michigan City and Indiana Dunes and, likely most surprising to those not familiar with Da Region (as the region calls itself) are the beaches of the industrial cities of Gary, East Chicago, Whiting and Hammond.

Tucked in among the steel mills and refineries of this section of Indiana - an area that's saddled with pollution and heavy truck traffic - are magnificent beaches and animal sanctuaries.

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Juxtapose with the heavy industry, the unspoiled Indiana Dunes. Both a state park and an expansive National Park (a recent upgrade from a National Lakeshore) offer a Lake Michigan experience vastly different from the urban beaches to the west.

So if you want to be a Lake Michigan completist - don't end your journey at the Michigan state line. Check out the too often overlooked beaches of Lake Michigan's southern shore.

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Here's a look at the beaches in Hammond and Whiting.